El Sonido is a three hour trip around the diverse world of Latin music and culture from South, Central and North America, as well as Spain and the rest of the globe.
The focus is on new music and the growing Latin alternative scene, but traditional styles, both old and new are also regularly spot…
LA-via-San Francisco band Thee Oh Sees return with their 11th album, a release KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls, "a more jam-oriented take on the band's adventurous blend of raw garage-rock, trippy psych-rock and motorik prog." Veteran Minneapolis duo Atmosphere release "a potent set of emotive …
It's uncanny that yesterday just happened to be Australia Day, and the highlights of this week's new releases are dominated by the down under! Merge Records release the latest from Melbourne pop quartet Twerps, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes is, "a masterful album of jangly indie-pop rem…
It's another jam-packed week of new releases! Highlights include the latest from London-based artist Adam Bainbridge (aka Kindness). KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes the relase "finds him toning down the disco influences of his promising debut album in favor of an often-gorgeous set of ‘80s R&am…
Seattle's own funk masters Polyrhythmics have become well known for their dynamic, hard-hitting live performances and today's Bumbershoot audience was experience it first hand. Polyrhythmics has made such a huge impact for such a young band, the eight piece orchestra was founded in 2010 by friends …
This week sees the return of L.A.-based artist Aimee Mann. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls her ninth solo album, "a consistently strong set of intimate, smartly crafted folk-pop, combining a dark, acoustic-oriented sound with her plaintive vocals and often-poignant lyrics reflecting upon lost l…
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings are recent legends and have become one of KEXP's core artists. The band, and the Daptones label that it represents, were the main force behind the soul funk revival of the last fifteen years, the stylistic rebirth that bands ranging from The Alabama Shakes to The Bu…
After a two year wait, and a rescheduled release date, we've finally got the latest from Phantogram on our hands. KEXP Music Director Don Yates says, the "New York duo's third album is a sleeker, more polished take on the band's moody electro-pop inflected with hip hop, funk and other styles." Swed…
With their shifting, phased-out sound, local urban poets and Cloud Nice members Kingdom Crumbs have become of the 206's leading hip hop groups. (In a recent Stranger piece, our own Larry Mizell, Jr. called the group "hands-down full-stop one of the very very best groups our town has.") The Seattle …
Most of the bands playing SXSW 2013 are probably going to play about five shows during their time in Austin. Ozomatli are playing five in one day. Founded in 1995, Ozomatli’s multicultural blend of Latin, funk, reggae, and hip hop (among other things) has made them cultural ambassadors on a number …
For almost five years now as Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Ruban Nielson has been learning how to give himself away. On his eponymous debut, it was from behind the closed door of a bedroom, where we heard psychedelic funk gems muffled through the wall and wanted to know more. On 2013's II, the door cra…
Seattle had a thriving funk and soul scene in the '60s and '70s. There were dozens of bands and more than 20 venues specializing in the genres.
Imagine a pair of bell-bottoms. A suede vest. A wide collar, strutting leather boots. Similarly, imagine sequins and elongated lashes. Pearls and sly eyes. If you can imagine this, you can begin to sense the spirits that inspired the newest record from Seattle soul and funk group, The True Loves. T…
Tuxedo is the collaborative project between Michigan-raised, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter/producer Mayer Hawthorne and veteran Seattle-based producer Jake One. Bonding over a shared love of early 1980s boogie, disco, funk, and R&B, the pair soon connected to create modern-day jams steepe…
April ended strong with new releases from some of our favorite artists. It's been five years since the last album from Feist, and the Canadian songstress returns with what KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls "a powerful set of dark, intimate folk-rock. Recorded mostly live, the album features a sta…
The Suffers have earned their name: it took them about five years of running the Houston circuit before jumping overnight to national attention. Houston is one of the cities that often gets overlooked in the discussion of the American music scene, partially because neighboring New Orleans dwarfs it…
Finally! With all of these great new releases, 2013 is coming on with a roar. Well, maybe not The Big Roar this time, but rather Wolf's Law, the new and much anticipated second album from The Joy Formidable. Fans wondering how the Welsh trio could possibly follow up their hard hitting debut after s…
Get ready, Seattle. Radiohead play a sold out show next door to the station at Key Arena this Saturday. And last night, at Kansas City, MO’s Sprint Center, they dug out the track "Where I End and You Begin" for the first time in nine years. Watch fan shot footage of them performing the Hail to the…
Drangar: their name translates roughly in English to “pillars of rock”, and it's about as apt a description you'll find for this Icelandic group, whose members — Mugison, Jónas Sigurðsson and Ómar Guðjónsson — are each highly respected musicians with their own projects. Thanks to the chance occurre…
